Forged in Honor

Ballantine Books, 1996. First Mass Market Paperback Edition; first printing [stated]. Mass-market paperback. Good. Slightly cocked.. [8], 405, [3] p. Maps. From an on-line posting: "Leonard B. Scott (Col. USA ret. ) is also the author of the acclaimed novels Charlie Mike, The Last Run, The Hill, The Expendables, The Iron Men, and Forged in Honor. Scott retired in 1994 as a full colonel after a twenty-seven-year career in the United States Army, with assignments throughout the world. A veteran of Vietnam, he earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Colonel Scott devotes all his time to researching and writing his novels. He and his wife have returned to their home state of Oklahoma, bought their dream house, and declare they're never moving again." From the back cover: "After the American Embassy in Burma is bombed, retired Special Forces colonel Joshua Hawkins is recalled to active duty by order of the president. A secret government mission will require the intimate knowledge of the exotic country that only Hawkins can provide. He has a special bond with the Shan, the proud and independent mountain tribe of northern Burma, having trained as a warrior with his friend Stephen, the son of a Shan warlord, becoming a Horseman of the Shan hill people, and earning the coveted warriors' silver bracelet, forged in honor, that he still wears. Now Hawkins is called again to serve his country, to save his Shan friend, and to help the brave people he has never forgotten in their fight against a corrupt government and a ruthless heroin syndicate. It's a big job, but Hawkins and his men are up to it--and not above using frontier justice to teach the despots a thing or two, the old-fashioned way..."